Skip to main content

Revolutionary Freedom







Revolutionary Freedom by Joey LeTourneau

Taking the long winding journey through a prison, Revolutionary Freedom by Joey LeTourneau is a wild ride into the themes of sin, Satan, and finding true freedom in Christ.  Throughout the path, we meet the Warden (Satan), the Lord, Peter, Paul, Mary Magdalene and Abraham.  The vivid telling of the story captures the struggle between the deceiver, temptation, and lasting freedom found in believing in Christ.  Joey’s work with Heavenly Hope Ministries has given him a profound look into broken children all around Ethiopia and a clear understanding of the prisons that these children have come from.  This book will be very well suited to those in the Charismatic movement but was also helpful for me to see the subtleties that come about in the spiritual battle.

Joey is careful to see that the matter with the Christian faith is not related to an outward adornment of the faith but an internal heart change.  He writes, “Many are satisfied just to proclaim their religion as a kind of name tag.  I don’t mind them wearing Jesus across their chests – as long as they don’t walk closely with Him in their hearts.” (33)  The Warden here is speaking of the way that he doesn’t mind an outward show of faith but is keen on watching for a faith that is rooted in a changed heart.  Another point that Joey brings out through the mouth of the Warden is people’s minds.  He writes, “Sometimes we feed them lies about positive things, telling them how strong or wise they are on their own.  I love it when people start to depend on themselves more than do on God.” (34)  Satan knows every trick in the book to deceive people’s minds in to making them think of themselves as wise beyond fault or despicable beyond redeeming. 

Chapter 11 on Freedom is a good reminder about the present reality of faith in Christ for today.  Joey says some good words here in this chapter.  He writes, “My chains were gone.  The Lord had washed them away and nothing could hinder me as long as I walked by faith.  I remembered that it was not enough to be forgiven; I had to live forgiven.” (137)  To remember that our salvation is in the hands of the Savior is a wonderful truth.  Living forgiven is a matter of living by grace.  I also thought the map idea in this chapter that pointed to God’s Word was a helpful way of looking at things.  One of my concerns in the book was that I hoped Joey would have talked more about our union with Christ, the sealing work of the Holy Spirit, and grace.  Other than that, I enjoyed the journey of walking through the prison in reading this book.


Thanks to SpeakEasy for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Saving Casper

Saving Casper: A Christian and an Atheist Talk about Why We Need to Change the Conversion Conversation by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Casper-Christian-Conversion-Conversation/dp/1414364881 Many readers will quickly know the authors of this book from their previous release Jim and Casper Go to Church.  Jim and Matt’s new book entitled Saving Casper focuses on the way we talk about conversion in the church and the devastating ways we have pushed away atheists and other non-believers by our posture.  Both Jim and Matt traversed the national landscape, meeting in churches and asking hard questions about faith, conversion, and life. The basic premise of the book and travel is laid out here in their words, “Part of what Casper and I are trying to achieve when we speak to a group of Christians is to help people move a little bit on their “judgment meter.”  This capacity, while intellectually and often theologically uncomfortable,...

Essential Christian Doctrine

  Essential Christian Doctrine , General Editor John MacArthur Pastor John MacArthur has for years been teaching the Word of God in both pulpit ministry, books, and conferences with an aim to displaying God’s revelation to his listeners in a winsome and foundational manner.  This new book, Essential Christian Doctrine takes an entire life of teaching and preaching and encapsulates the main contours of the Christian faith for its readers.  John in a systematic way highlights the most necessary teachings from Scripture including God’s Word, the Trinity, while also including sections on Man and the Future. One of the most helpful ways the authors bring to light biblical truth and theology is the way in which they group together particular themes.  In the section on the Holy Spirit, instead of a complex discussion of personhood, word pictures of the Holy Spirit are introduced in a discernible and profitable manner.  The metaphors for the Holy Spirit include fir...

God's Grace for All of Life

The Romance of Grace by Jim McNeely III To be honest, when I received this book in the mail I had visions of what it might be like with a title like, ‘The Romance of Grace.’  The emotional rollercoaster and one-sided perspective on how our emotions fuel our faith was my presumption about the book, but this was the furthest thing from the truth as I started reading.  The Romance of Grace by Pastor Jim McNeely III is a careful look at the movements of grace in the way God pursues us with his love and his desire to get us to love him back.  McNeely writes, “We are entering a cosmic romance with a passionate lover, and He is interested in our heart’s truest desire.  His deepest objective isn’t to make us more moral; it is to get us to love Him back.  Virtue is the fruit, not the root” (18).  Why is this helpful?  For one thing, beginning with God’s initiating grace frees us from starting out on the wrong foot in the way we tell the story and...